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Doctors discover four sweat bees living inside woman's eye and feeding on her tears

<em>Four sweat bees were found living in a woman’s eye in Taiwan (Getty/stock photo)</em>
Four sweat bees were found living in a woman’s eye in Taiwan (Getty/stock photo)

A woman was shocked to discover that a group of bees were living inside her eye – and feeding off of her TEARS.

The 28-year-old, known only as Ms He, thought dirt had been blown into her eye while she was pulling out weeds around the graves of her relatives.

However, several hours later the 28-year-old visited a hospital in southern Taiwan when her eyes started to swell and cause her pain.

<em>The woman was pulling out weeds when the insects flew into her eyes (YouTube)</em>
The woman was pulling out weeds when the insects flew into her eyes (YouTube)

Dr Hong Chi Ting, who works at the Fooyin University Hospital, said he was “shocked” when he saw four bees living in Ms He’s eye when he took a closer look.

He told the BBC: “She couldn’t completely close her eyes. I looked into the gap with a microscope and saw something black that looked like an insect leg.

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“I grabbed the leg and very slowly took one out, then I saw another one, and another and another. They were still intact and all alive.”

The insects – known a sweat bees – are attracted to sweat and are known to land on people so they can drink beads of perspiration.

<em>Sweat bees, also known as Halictidae, are attracted to sweat (Flickr)</em>
Sweat bees, also known as Halictidae, are attracted to sweat (Flickr)

Dr Hong believes the fact the woman was wearing contact lenses saved her from potentially going blind.

He added: “She was wearing contact lenses so she didn’t dare to rub her eyes in case she broke the lens. If she did she could have induced the bees to produce venom… she could have gone blind.”

The bees are still alive and have been sent to another organisation so they can be studied.

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